


house of cards

by plumstagram



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, Enemies to Friends, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Not Canon Compliant, Recovery, Unreliable Narrator, asano gakuhou's truly awful parenting, isogai karma gakushuu friendship let's get it!!, mild supernatural elements, mostly compliant tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24298855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plumstagram/pseuds/plumstagram
Summary: It’s a bright winter morning when Asano Gakushuu, student council president and undisputed pride of Kunugigaoka Middle leaves his home, takes the subway to school, and walks into the forest. He doesn’t walk out.
Relationships: Akabane Karma & Asano Gakushuu, Akabane Karma & Asano Gakushuu & Isogai Yuuma, Akabane Karma & Isogai Yuuma, Asano Gakuhou & Asano Gakushuu, Asano Gakushuu & Sakakibara Ren, Asano Gakushuu & the Virtuosos
Comments: 73
Kudos: 324





	1. Asano Gakushuu and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad brain

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dream](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18643276) by [gwendee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwendee/pseuds/gwendee). 



> surprise! hi gwen bet u didn't see this coming
> 
> also, as expected, i got the title mostly from bts' song house of cards, because i definitely haven't heard that phrase anywhere else. pls listen to the song on loop while reading this, or go look up the lyrics and then read this. that's the ideal state of mind for reading my fic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

It’s a Saturday morning and still dark outside when Gakushuu wakes up and thinks _this is it_. Then he goes back to sleep.

* * *

When Gakushuu finally gets up, it’s eight o’clock. That’s as late as he usually permits himself to sleep on weekends, even if today is, well. Today.

After his morning routine, he absently shuffles through the papers on his desk. Notes, review guide, worksheet, worksheet, quiz, formula sheet. He puts them back in a binder, and carefully stacks all his notebooks underneath. He gives his desk a once-over, and heads downstairs.

* * *

Breakfast is delicious as always. The Principal is reading a newspaper over a steaming cup of tea, and Gakushuu eats his porridge in silence. Kano-san comes in with a teapot and pours the Principal another cup. The man doesn’t look up when Gakushuu pockets a clementine from the bowl of fruit and leaves.

* * *

“Excuse me,” Gakushuu bows, carefully stepping over still-drying patches of the foyer. The half that hasn’t been mopped yet is spotless.

“Ah, don’t mind me,” Kano-san grins, looking up from her mopping, “where ‘ya heading out to today?”

“A friend’s house,” he says vaguely, slipping his shoes on. He determinedly doesn’t think of the book report Ren and Araki said they’d be starting today.

“That’s good!” she says cheerfully, dunking her mop in a bucket, “make sure ‘ta have some fun!”

Gakushuu nods, closing the door softly behind him. A strong gust of wind rustles his jacket, and he tucks his hands into his pockets. He rolls the syringe between his fingers, and sets off.

* * *

Gakushuu wasn’t heading anywhere in particular but for some reason he’s standing at the gates of Kunugigaoka. There’s probably some underlying psychological reason for that, but that’s beyond Gakushuu right now. He looks to the mountain where 3-E holds classes and sighs. If he knew he was going to be climbing a mountain today he would’ve worn better shoes.

He’s a little sweaty when he makes it to the top, but doesn’t unzip his jacket even when he steps into 3-E’s main classroom. The room looks more worn than run-down, which is a bit of a surprise considering how the building looks from the outside.

Gakushuu runs a finger across a half-erased math equation at the top right corner of the chalk board, and wipes the dust across the front desk. He walks up and down the rows of desks, and ends up sitting by the window. He sits there for a long, long time.

* * *

There’s a syringe in Gakushuu’s pocket. In the Principal’s wallet is a picture of two boys and a girl.

* * *

It’s almost noon when Gakushuu finally checks his phone. There’s a few emails from the school’s tutoring services, but for the most part his notifications are from his friends. He ignores them, and sorts his emails into various folders. Then he sets his phone on mute.

Gakushuu wanders outside, behind the building. He squints up at the clouds. Cumulus. Fair weather. 

He scuffs his heel on the dirt, and looks down. There’s a large patch of dirt covered in white sand. Gakushuu doesn’t want to know about it.

To the right of the main path up the mountain there’s a trail that goes back down the mountain. He turns towards the horizon, and steps into the trees.

* * *

It’s already dark when someone who isn’t quite Gakushuu walks out of the forest. He goes home and doesn’t eat dinner and lies in Gakushuu’s bed. The clementine in his pocket has rotted.

* * *

The next day, Gakushuu-but-not-quite wakes up and does the book report and all the work he should have done before Monday. Kano-san brings him snacks every few hours. He’s pretty sure it’s her off day, but he doesn’t say anything. Neither does she.

He goes to bed, and sleeps deeply for four hours. In his dreams, he can hear the wind rustling through leaves.

* * *

Gakushuu goes to school on Monday, and wastes a third of Algebra II staring out the window and into the forest. He thinks Ren is worried about him, because he presses a juice box into Gakushuu’s hand during lunch. He drinks it, but can’t remember what flavor it was afterwards.

After school, he tutors and studies and listens and looks straight through the Principal.

“Is there something you want to tell me, Asano?” he asks.

Gakushuu blinks slowly. It takes him a quarter a beat too long to answer, but that doesn’t bother him the way it would have three days ago. “No, Mr. Principal.” He returns to his dinner, and doesn’t catch the Principal’s perplexed stare.

* * *

There’s an empty syringe sitting in the left pocket of the third blazer from the left side of his closet. Gakushuu sees whenever he opens his pencil case and feels for it in every pocket. He dreams of lying in a grassy clearing under the stars.

* * *

Gakushuu drifts through his life for almost a month before Akabane Karma confronts him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have the next chapter and entire outline written, so dw this fic should be finished relatively quickly lmao


	2. interlude: everyone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> now starring: still-friends-with-everyone-on-main-campus-Isogai

"Sakakibara," Seo says under his breath, "I think there's something wrong with Asano."

Ren presses his lips together tightly and doesn't reply, pushing down the urge to reply that generally there is something wrong with Gakushuu. Like, as a person. But Seo isn't wrong, because the way Gakushuu has been acting for the past few weeks has long since passed the line from normal Gakushuu behavior to normal depressed person territory which is too horrifying to even think about for too long.

"I know," Ren mutters, sifting through his chemistry notes, "I think I'm going to talk to him about it."

Seo looks alarmed. "I mean, you could."

Ren sets his notes down, and stands up. This isn't a conversation he wants to have a meter away from Gakushuu. "Me and Seo are getting everyone drinks," he declares, "anyone want anything?"

"My usual, please," Araki says, not looking up.

"Me too," Koyama adds. "Thanks."

Gakushuu doesn't say anything. Exchanging looks, Ren and Seo leave the room.

"He's never acted like this before," Seo hisses, aggressively stabbing the code for Araki's favorite sports drink into the vending machine, "he doesn't even act like this after talking to the Principal."

"I dunno," Ren says, feeding another bill into the machine, "what about that time with his foreign exchange student friends?"

Seo stops at his tracks. He sighs, and plucks a banana milk out of the machine. "Alright, maybe. But that was different! He got over it after a day or two, and went right back to being himself. And it wasn't like this. Right now he's just— I don't know. He's being weird."

Ren shoves a few drinks into Seo's hands, and turns to head back to the library. "I want to say it's probably something that has to do with the Principal," Ren says bitterly, "but at this rate I'm not really sure what he could do that's more fucked up than anything else he's done."

Seo huffs in agreement. "That's fair."

"And honestly, Gakushuu-kun usually deals with things pretty well," Ren continues, "because I definitely wouldn't be able to deal with having the Principal as my dad at all. But maybe this time... I dunno. Maybe something really bad happened."

Seo stops a few feet away from the library doors, uncharacteristically somber. "I hope it's not like— a mental thing," he says quietly, "that shit's hard to get over."

Ren smiles grimly, and pushes the door open. "At this point, I'm not sure what else it could be.”

* * *

“You’ve been taking an inordinate amount of walks lately,” Gakuhou remarks over the dinner table. His son makes a noise of agreement but doesn’t otherwise respond.

The rest of the dinner proceeds in silence. “May I be excused?” Gakushuu asks.

“You may,” Gakuhou says. He frowns as he watches his son leave. What is going on with that boy?

* * *

“Isogai-kun,” Karma says, plopping down on the grass next to him.

“Karma-kun,” Isogai replies, exchanging a look with Maehara, who cheerfully pats Isogai’s shoulder and leaves to go talk to Nakamura.

“When are you going to ask him out anyways, Ikemen-kun,” Karma asks, pulling up some grass and methodically shredding it, “it’s not like he’s going to say no.”

Isogai only smiles enigmatically, and sets down his chopsticks. “Was there something you needed?”

Karma’s lips twist, and he pulls up more grass. A long minute passes.

“Number Two-kun’s been acting a little weird, hasn’t he?” Karma says, not looking up.

Isogai frowns. “He’s been… quieter, lately. Less, uh. Imposing, I guess.” He eyes Karma uncertainly. “Did something happen?”

Karma expressionlessly tears a long blade of grass into two pieces. “I don’t know,” he says. The way Asano passed Karma by, expression blank as stone, could certainly be counted as something. The pinched look the Virtuosos were sporting from behind their friend didn’t help, nor did the gentle hand Sakakibara laid on Asano’s shoulder as he guided him to the grocery checkout lane.

Isogai chews on his bottom lip. “There is… something I heard a couple months ago. About Asano. And the Principal.”

Karma blinks, looking up for the first time in the whole conversation. “What happened?”

“It was after the last end-of-term exam,” Isogai says slowly, picking at a loose thread on his sock, “I heard Principal Asano went to class 3-A to tell them off for not getting into the top 50, but everyone said that his methods didn’t work, and to transfer them to 3-E.”

“Really?” Karma exclaims, sitting up abruptly. “Even Asano?”

“Yeah,” Isogai says. He shifts uncomfortably.

Karma narrows his eyes, slowly putting together the pieces of a very disturbing puzzle. “What did the Principal do.”

“He— he slapped Asano,” Isogai whispers, looking for all the world like he was the one who was slapped, “across the room. His friends had to help carry him out.”

Karma stared at him. “ _Fuck_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man all these nice comments... i feel like my planned ending isnt living up to the hype anymore maybe i'll go change it a bit lol


	3. isokarmashuu: the origin story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> reenter: the spooky forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so . i thought i was gonna finish this quickly but i guess not .
> 
> since i'm trying to plan smth for whumptober i'm also trying to get some of my wips done. hopefully i can finish this fic by the end of this month, but no promises lol

It’s 8 in the morning on a Sunday when Gakushuu gets on the subway again. He left the house sans scarf or gloves, so naturally his hands are ice cold. He tucks them into his pockets and gets off at the Kunugigaoka Middle School stop. He doesn’t know it, but behind him, Akabane Karma watches curiously, and follows him off the subway.

* * *

It’s a testament to Gakushuu’s recent lack of awareness concerning… everything that he doesn’t notice Akabane until he speaks up. 

“Going somewhere, Asano?” Akabane asks, voice absent of its usual derisiveness. Gakushuu didn’t know that he could sound like that. Like he was worried.

Gakushuu doesn’t reply as he crosses the street, Akabane dogging his steps. “Hello? Second Place-kun?”

“Mind your own business,” Gakushuu mutters.

“Hmm. No.”

After that, Akabane remains silent. He’s silent as Gakushuu completely bypasses Kunugigaoka’s main campus. He’s silent as Gakushuu heads toward the trail to 3E’s classrooms, and then ignores the main trail up the hill. He’s silent as Gakushuu turns towards the rough, untravelled path, unheeding of the flowering weeds underfoot. He doesn’t say a word as Gakushuu steps into the forest.

Gakushuu walks through the forest, watching it grow deeper and darker. Damp moss begins to cover the roots of the trees, whose branches grow more and more crooked. The ground is wet with melting snow, and the only sound to be heard is of the morning frost quietly dripping off trees. He looks up, and the sky seems farther away than before.

Gakushuu keeps walking. And somehow, Akabane keeps following.

* * *

Asano must be a kilometer into his little hike before Karma finally loses his patience.

“Are you actually taking a walk or are you just doing this to spite me?” he asks half irritably, and half curious if any of those were actually his answer.

“…No.”

“Then what are you here for?”

Asano slows down, and then stops at his tracks. He mumbles something under his breath.

“What was that?”

“…I’m looking for something.”

Karma pauses. Okay, he didn’t see that one coming. “What are you looking for?”

Asano shrugs. His hands shift in his pockets. Karma narrows his eyes.

“Hey Asano, what’cha fiddling with in your pocket?”

Asano freezes. He shrugs again, and then turns to continue back down the forest path, except Karma grabs his wrist and hopes really hard that he isn’t about to get stabbed. “Asano. What’s in your pocket.”

“Let me go,” Asano snaps, yanking his arm away. He looks the most lifelike Karma has seen since he asked 3-E to assassinate his father’s education ideals. “Why are you even following me?”

“Because you look like shit,” Karma says honestly, “and it’s starting to worry me.”

Asano sneers. “And why do you care?”

Karma shoves down his embarrassment. “Because you’re the most interesting person around here,” he confesses. Then, gently, he asks, “Asano, please. What’s in your pocket?”

Asano presses his lips together tightly, and shakes his head.

Karma slowly reaches forward, giving Asano time to move away if he wants to, and then pulls Asano’s clenched fists out of his pockets. In his hands is an empty syringe with a hypodermic needle and cap attached to the end.

Karma scrutinizes it, holding it up so it can catch the meager light streaming through the trees. He pulls back the plunger a little. There are little bubbles of liquid near the base of the syringe. Karma isn’t sure, but they might be blue, which rules out heroin, thank god.

“Did you inject yourself with something?”

Asano shifts miserably. “….I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Karma asks, baffled.

Asano shakes his head.

Karma raises the syringe again. “Do you know what this is?”

Asano purses his lips and looks away.

“Gakushuu, _please.”_

“…14 milligrams of hydrogen cyanide.”

Karma closes his eyes. Something in his chest clenches painfully. He doesn’t know much about hydrogen cyanide but he's certain that 14 milligrams would be a lethal dose. Then his eyes snap back open. “And you don’t know if you took it or not?”

Asano shales his head again. “I was gonna… in December. I came here,” he gestures to the forest surrounding them, “I was going to do it. And then I was home and the syringe… I didn’t…”

“It’s alright,” Karma soothes, capping the needle and sticking it in his own pocket. “You’re still here. That’s what’s important.” He tugs on Asano’s coat sleeve. “C’mon, it’s freezing out here. Let’s go back. I’ll buy you something warm, my treat.”

* * *

**a bitch:** ikemen-kun we’ve got a problem here

**only man with rights:** ????

**a bitch:** so i hung out with asano today

**only man with rights:** _?????????_

**a bitch:** leave me alonnnnne

**a bitch:** anyways my point is . i hung out with asano today and he’s in a Bad Way

**a bitch:** like . a Really Bad Way

**a bitch:** send help what do i do

**only man with rights:** ….do you mean Bad Way like in a depression way or is it worse than that

**a bitch:** it’s worse than that

**only man with rights:** …………fuck

**only man with rights:** ok

**only man with rights:** so here’s what we’re gonna do

**a bitch:** we???

**only man with rights:** yes we

**only man with rights:** if you’re gonna be in this for the long run you need someone vaguely emotionally competent

**a bitch:** ://

**only man with rights:** am i wrong

**a bitch:** no

**a bitch:** teach me your mentally healthy ways, ikemen-sensei

**only man with rights:** ignoring that. here’s what i have in mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> credits to karma's hilarious chat username to amelie. funny as shit
> 
> also after writing this chapter i have no idea where this fic is going . sorry in advance. also, i hope none of u were disappointed by the reveal?
> 
> also also, rip my search history. curse my desire to write accurate ways to poison yourself!!


	4. this chapter is brought to you by an extremely catchy but terrible kpop song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> unfortunately, it's mid to late january at this point in the fic. fortunately enough, we can still celebrate gakushuu's birthday with some good old fashioned simping for pretty girls and also isogai

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this took way too long. from the bottom of my heart, my b. happy birthday to the bitchiest middle schooler in japan, and happy new year to everyone else!
> 
> also to waspfactor, if you're reading this: thank you for indirectly telling my that isogai swears!! i love it

“Make a wish,” Karma says flatly as Isogai insistently pushes a cupcake into Asano’s hands.

“It’s not my birthday,” Asano replies, equally flatly.

“Well, you said that you didn’t celebrate your birthday this year, so I thought it would be nice to have a small celebration,” Isogai explains as he busies himself with sticking both his hands into Karma’s book bag and pulling out a plastic bag full of snacks.

Asano raises an eyebrow. “Is that Akabane’s gift to me? If so, I’m unsure whether accepting food from him is a wise idea.”

“It’s both our gifts to you, and don’t worry, Karma didn’t do anything to it.”

“You didn’t even buy any of this,” Karma complains.

“It’s the handling fee.”

“For pulling it out of my bag??”

“No, for me handling both of you.”

Karma pouts. “You’re mean, Class Ikemen. I have no idea how Maehara puts up with you.”

“Maehara is infinitely less annoying,” Isogai says cheerfully, fishing a few candles out of the plastic bag. “Anyways, make a wish, Asano!”

Karma dutifully lights up the candles. “You should wish for less boring classmates,” he suggests, “or for Sakakibara to stop harassing girls.”

“He’s toned it down ever since last term exams,” Asano defends, and then frowns as Isogai instantly bursts into laughter.

“Wait,” Karma says, thinking back to something he overheard a few months back, “was that when— before term exams— at the library, when—”

“Kanzaki scared the _life_ out of him before exams,” Isogai snickers, “I can’t believe all it took was someone threatening to stab him. With a pencil,” he adds hastily, as Asano looks at him, alarmed.

“Didn’t know she had that in her, but good for her!” Karma says brightly. “Also, Mr. Student President sir, you should probably blow out your candles before they completely melt,” he points out.

“We’re talking about this later,” Asano says warningly, and then blows his candles out in Karma’s face.

“Maybe,” Isogai says cheerily, shoving the bag of snacks into Asano’s hands.

* * *

_Child. What is your wish?_

* * *

Turning into the grocery aisle, Nagisa and Sugino pause, surprised. “Hi guys!” Nagisa smiles, eyes flicking towards Asano. “I didn’t know you guys hung out.”

“Unfortunately, Isogai and Akabane have decided to physically attach themselves to me,” Asano drawls, tugging his arm, which had been forcibly linked with Isogai’s.

“We’re buying ingredients for Asano’s late birthday cake,” Isogai tells them with his usual dazzling smile, but it’s made slightly creepy by the fact that Asano keeps trying to jerk away from him to no avail. “His dad’s a jackass, so we’re having a late celebration together!”

“That’s terrible,” Nagisa frowns, clearly not as perturbed as Sugino is at the whole situation, “but happy late birthday, Asano!”

“Happy late birthday,” Sugino echoes, automatically schooling his face into a more appropriate expression. Karma grins. No doubt half the class will know about this within the hour. And if Karma plays his cards right, by the end of Monday the entirety of Class 3-E will be more ready to punch the Principal than to say a polite word about him.

“Stop looking so bloodthirsty, Karma,” Isogai chides, waving as Nagisa and Sugino head off.

“I hope you’re not planning another juvenile stunt,” Asano says suspiciously.

“Of course not,” Karma says, smiling winningly.

“Stop that.”

“I’m not doing anything!”

“Yeah Karma, stop that.”

“I’m being ganged up on. Is this bullying? Am I being bullied?”

“I can make you feel bullied, if you want.”

“Yes, it would be remiss of us to deprive you of valuable life experiences.”

“You’re both terrible.”

* * *

_I wish I could stop being so… emotional. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of everything._

* * *

“Hey Asano,” Isogai says, draped over the back of one of the stiff chairs from Karma’s seldom used dining room. “What did you wish for?”

Asano imperiously raises an eyebrow, but slouched the way he is over the couch arm, it seems more lazy than anything. “Isn’t the point not to tell anyone?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t actually think you believed in that.”

“Do you not?” Karma asks, vaguely surprised.

Isogai shrugs. “Not really? It’s a nice sentiment, I guess.”

“When I was younger, the Principal used to take me to _Tanabata_ every year to make a wish,” Asano says sleepily. He fixes his gaze onto the ceiling as Karma and Isogai exchange mutually disgusted expressions.

“We can go together this year, if you want,” Isogai offers. “Make a whole day out of it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Karma grinned, “since you’ll be needing a free wish once I beat your ass in this term’s exams.”

“Keep dreaming, Akabane, maybe it’ll even get you in the top 30,” Asano says condescendingly, purposefully sinking even further into the couch. Karma narrows his eyes at him, his hand straying towards his half-full glass of water.

“Guys, c’mon, can’t you do this another time? This is the fourth time—”

* * *

_I wish I could keep being this happy. This warm._

_Very well, child. Wish granted._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope that the buildup n resolution were ok?? i have no idea what i'm doing sorry
> 
> thank u to everyone who stuck with me through this excessively long journey! subscribe to my account so u can see the isoshuu fic i'm about to speedwrite


	5. epilogue: deleted scene from chapter 1 that ruined the vibe so now it's here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pretty self explanatory. this scene was going to go in ch1 when gakushuu checks his phone, but it kinda made the flow not what i wanted. i almost deleted this entire scene when i was deleting the main doc but i remembered it last minute. you're welcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think i stole the groupchat name from one of gwendee's fics. sorry, gwennie

**[President Asano and his min- i mean, friends (5)]**

Sakakibara Ren: are u actually kidding me

Araki Teppei: koyama natsuhiko. my good friend of 3 years. please say sike

Koyama Natsuhiko: I’M BAD WITH NAMES OK

Araki Teppei: YOU HAVE E VE R Y SINGLE CHEM FORMULA MEMORIZED

Araki Teppei: IT’S BEEN NOT 1. NOT 2. BUT 3 WHOLE YEARS. WHY IS MY CONTACT NAME STILL “ARAKI 1A”

Koyama Natsuhiko: PEOPLE ARE VERY DIFFERENT FROM CHEM FORMULAS

Sakakibara Ren: ive been disrespected for the last time… expect to my corpse on ur balcony before the sun sets

Koyama Natsuhiko: I DON’T EVEN HAVE A BALCONY

Sakakibara Ren: a truly tragic death…. how will u live with urself….. when my weeping girlfriend shows up at your door…. only Then u will Know…

Seo Tomoya: shut your mouth sakakibara wbk u’re fucking that debate team guy in 3B

Araki Teppei: WHJASKGHGHSFHGJ

Koyama Natsuhiko: LMFAOOOOOOO

Sakakibara Ren: SHUT UPPPPP IM A WHOLE MINOR

Seo Tomoya: a minor above the age of consent(；￢_￢)

Sakakibara Ren: WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I’M THAT TYPE OF GUY

Sakakibara Ren: I’M TAKING IT SLOW

Sakakibara Ren: WE HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN ON A DATE YET

Koyama Natsuhiko: WAIT U ACTUALLY LIKE LIKE HIM

Sakakibara Ren:

Sakakibara Ren: goodbye .

Seo Tomoya: f

Araki Teppei: GET HIM GET HIM GET HIM

**Author's Note:**

> everyone, thank u for reading! tell me what u like!! lmk if i need to tag smth!! talk to me in the comments!!!  
> you can also come talk to me on instagram (@pl.mxi) or twitter (@plumstagram) :D


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